Can We Stop Worrying Already? Apparently Not.

As you can tell from our posts this week, Gary Ross’ departure from Catching Fire shook us, and we’re not alone. To say that The Hunger Games fandom has been upended is a bit of an understatement.

We’d been following Hunger Games movie news from the very beginning. Every casting decision was questioned, every bit of news dissected, every photo and second of footage examined and debated about. And then we saw it and in general were impressed and very happy about it. We were supposed to be okay for Catching Fire! “Who’s your choice for Finnick/Johanna/Beetee/etc.?” they’d ask. “I trust Gary!” we’d say. His decisions turned out to be pretty spot on regarding pretty much everything and we knew he’s a fan like us, so we weren’t worried about Catching Fire.

Until now.

Now it feels like it did all over again. All the uncertainty we felt regarding The Hunger Games movie is back, and it feels as if it’s gotten even worse. Now we’re worried that this little franchise that could will get derailed because they’re bringing in someone new. We’re worried that the choice of director will be all wrong. We’re worried about an inconsistent vision for the series. We’re worried that some of the most beloved characters in the series will be cast poorly and in a strictly superficial way. We’re worried that this new guy won’t stick to the book because they don’t have the same respect for the source material. We’re worried that whoever directs won’t have enough time to do a good job.

Of the 3 named directors, I'm most ok with Cronenberg, but I'm dying to know who else is on the list (Credit: IndieWire)

It’s a little unfair. I don’t exactly envy whoever is coming in to replace Gary because there is so much doubt among such passionate fans. Whoever it is will have a lot to prove to us. The bar was set pretty high, and frankly, we’re kind of pissed off that we have to worry again.

So, future director of Catching Fire, be careful. We want you to do well, we do. It only benefits us if you turn out to do a great job, because we’ll get a good movie we can be proud of. But we are worried, and we don’t like being this way.

Post navigation

2 comments

When the first Hunger Games was coming out most of my excitement to finally see the characters I loved so much on screen was able to cover some of my anxious worry. I’ll still be terribly excited to see characters like Finnick, Johanna, Coin, and more but some of the novelty will definitely have worn off. Maybe it is a bit early for me to already say how excited I will be but I feel like the worry I have now is much worse than the worry I had before. If Suzanne Collins is still involved then it might not be that bad with the new director. They could still make me happy… at least this is not like Jennifer suddenly said she is leaving (oh god forbid)… but it still puts me on edge.